Judge lifts cruise ship captain’s house arrestROME (AP) — An Italian judge lifted the house arrest order for the captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruiser liner on Thursday, but said he must remain in his hometown near Naples during the criminal investigation regarding the accident off the Tuscan coast that killed 32 people. Captain Francesco Schettino is accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the liner while many passengers and crew were still aboard. Judge ...

First NATO supply trucks cross Pakistan borderCHAMAN, Pakistan (AP) — Trucks carrying NATO supplies rolled into Afghanistan for the first time in more than seven months Thursday, ending a painful chapter in U.S.-Pakistan relations that saw the border closed until Washington apologized for an airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Thousands of trucks have been waiting at ports in Karachi for the transit ban to be lifted as the diplomatic wrangling dragged on. Drivers are eager to get...

Japan powered by nuclear energy again, blamed anewTOKYO (AP) — Nuclear power returned to Japan’s energy mix for the first time in two months Thursday, hours before a parliamentary panel blamed the government’s cozy relations with the industry for the meltdowns that prompted the mass shutdown of the nation’s reactors. Though the report echoes other investigations into last year’s disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, it could fuel complaints that Japan is trying to restart nuclear reactors...

New Mexican president could target small gangsMEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s next president has boldly promised to halve the number of kidnappings and murders during his six-year term by moving law enforcement away from showy drug busts and focusing on protecting ordinary citizens from gangs. Yet Enrique Pena Nieto said remarkably little specific about his anti-crime strategy during the three-month campaign that ended with his still-contested victory in Sunday’s election. That ambiguity has ...

New tests revive debate over Arafat deathJERUSALEM (AP) — The discovery of traces of a radioactive agent on clothing reportedly worn by Yasser Arafat in his final days reignited a cauldron of conspiracy theories Wednesday about the mysterious death of the longtime Palestinian leader. Arafat’s widow, who ordered the tests by a Swiss lab, called for her husband’s body to be exhumed, and Arafat’s successor gave tentative approval for an autopsy. But experts warned that even after the de...

Man in Afghan uniform wounds 5 US troopsKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A man in an Afghan army uniform opened fire outside a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan, wounding five American soldiers, an Afghan police official said Wednesday. The number of insider attacks against foreign forces in Afghanistan has increased this year, undermining the trust between allies and efforts to prepare Afghan troops to take over their own security as international combat troops prepare to withdraw. The U.S...

Eureka! Physicists celebrate evidence of particleGENEVA (AP) — Scientists at the world’s biggest atom smasher hailed the discovery of “the missing cornerstone of physics” Wednesday, cheering the apparent end of a decades-long quest for a new subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, or “God particle,” which could help explain why all matter has mass and crack open a new realm of subatomic science. First proposed as a theory in the 1960s, the maddeningly elusive Higgs had been hunted by at l...

Accusations grow of vote-buying in Mexico electionMEXICO CITY (AP) — Thousands of people rushed to stores Tuesday to redeem pre-paid gift cards they said were given to them previously by the party that won Mexico’s presidency, inflaming accusations that the weekend election was marred by widespread vote-buying. At least a few cardholders were angry, complaining that they didn’t get as much as promised or that their cards weren’t working. Neighbors at one store in a poor neighborhood on the ou...

Rifts split Syria’s opposition at Cairo meetingCAIRO (AP) — Syrian opposition groups struggled to form a united leadership Tuesday at a meeting in Cairo that exposed the vast disagreements that have prevented them from effectively leading the uprising against President Bashar Assad. The conference ended late Tuesday with an agreement on two documents, both of them vague. One provides a general outline to guide the opposition through a transitional period, while the other lays out the funda...

US drawdown in Afghanistan includes many trainersCAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan (AP) — For today’s drill, an instructor explains, the Taliban will be played by U.S. Marines, and the “village” will be just down from the driving practice loop. An Afghan police officer uses a stick to point out targets to his team on a map drawn in the dirt. They grab their weapons and head out, taking cover behind a berm. A pickup truck drives up. The Afghans take aim and mimic the sound of a machine gun. The M...

Iran says it wants ’win-win’ in nuclear talksTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran wants a “win-win” outcome in its talks with world powers over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program, the country’s foreign minister said Monday, warning that the only other choice is confrontation. Three rounds of nuclear negotiations between Iran and six world powers have failed to produce a breakthrough. A low-level meeting of technical experts is scheduled for Tuesday in Istanbul to see whether there is enough common gr...

Poll: Stark Russian divide over Vladimir PutinMOSCOW (AP) — The success and possible future undoing of President Vladimir Putin lies in the contrast between people like provincial housewife Yekaterina Arsentyeva and Moscow student Kirill Guskov. In the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, Arsentyeva sees Putin as the only man who can ensure her children have a decent future. In the capital, Guskov can’t hide his contempt for Russia’s leader and the culture of corruption he has overseen: “A fis...

Pope fires Slovak bishop in rare show of authorityVATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI fired a 52-year-old Slovak bishop for apparently mismanaging his diocese in a rare show of papal power over bishops that could have implications for U.S. sex abuse cases. Usually when bishops run into trouble — either for alleged moral lapses or management problems — they are persuaded by the Vatican to resign. But Benedict has become increasingly willing to forcibly remove bishops who refuse to step down,...

Egypt’s new president begins struggle for powerCAIRO (AP) — Islamist Mohammed Morsi became Egypt’s first freely elected president on Saturday, launching his four-year term with a potentially dangerous quest to wrest back from the military the full authority of his office. The outcome of the impending battle between Egypt’s first civilian president and its powerful generals will redraw the country’s political landscape after 60 years of de facto military rule. If Morsi succeeds, the Muslim ...

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shamir dies at 96JERUSALEM (AP) — Yitzhak Shamir was a fighter for the Jews long before Israel’s creation, an underground leader who led militias against the Arabs and British. He made no apologies and no compromises — not as an underground fighter, an intelligence agent who hunted Nazis, and as one of Israel’s longest-serving prime ministers who refused to bargain for land. The 96-year-old Shamir, who clung throughout his life to the belief that Israel should...

New Hong Kong leader takes office amid discontentHONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s new Beijing-backed leader was sworn in on Sunday amid rising public discontent over widening inequality and lack of full democracy in the semiautonomous southern Chinese financial center. Tens of thousands of people are expected to take to the streets later in the day in an annual protest that is an occasion for ordinary people to air their grievances over a range of issues. Leung Chun-ying took office in an early ...

Worries about vote buying despite Mexican reformsMEXICO CITY (AP) — Political reforms in Mexico have made it much harder to steal an election, officials say. But a lot of people think you can still buy one. As voters go to the polls Sunday to elect a new president, allegations are flying that candidates are offering money and swag, flouting campaign-spending limits in the process. Most allegations are aimed at the old guard Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which polls say holds a s...

Sex grooming cases spark racial tensionsROCHDALE, England (AP) — She was lonely in the way only an adolescent girl can be: No friends, no boyfriend, not much of a relationship with her parents. So she felt special when a man decades older paid attention to her, bought her trinkets, gave her free booze. Then he took her to a dingy room above a kebab shop and said she had to give something back in return. His demands grew: Not just sex with him, but with his friends. It went on for ye...

Chinese astronauts parachute land after missionBEIJING (AP) — China’s first female astronaut and two other crew members emerged smiling from a capsule that returned safely to Earth Friday from a 13-day mission to an orbiting module that is a prototype for a future space station. The Shenzhou 9 parachuted to a landing on the grasslands of the country’s sprawling Inner Mongolia region at about 10 a.m. (0200 GMT). China declared the first manned mission to the Tiangong 1 module a major stride...

Endurance athlete Palfrey tries Cuba-Florida swimHAVANA (AP) — Marathon swimmer Penny Palfrey powered through the Straits of Florida on Friday as she attempted a record 103-mile (166-kilometer) unassisted swim from Cuba to Florida that tests the limits of human endurance and the will of the high seas. Slathered with sunblock and lubricant to prevent chafing, the British-born Australian bade farewell to onlookers, dove headfirst into the calm, bathwater-warm seas off Havana and began stroking...